Healthy Sales For Retailers In January

Many of the nation`s leading retailers Thursday reported healthy sales increases for the first four weeks of the year, traditionally one of the industry`s slowest periods.

Results, however, are incomplete for the period because some retailers

--including No. 1-ranked Sears, Roebuck and Co.--opted to record results for the first five weeks as January sales and will report them on Feb. 7.

``Sales (for January) are satisfactory,`` said Monroe Greenstein, a retail analyst with the investment firm of Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York.

Edward Weller, an analyst with E.F. Hutton Group Inc., explained that ``a sudden cold wave allowed them to sell a lot of fall apparel that they hadn`t sold earlier.``

But analysts also noted that January is not a significant month for retailers. ``It`s usually a month that includes a lot of leftover merchandise, odds and ends,`` Jeffrey Edelman, an analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., said.

K mart Corp., the nation`s second-largest retailer, said its January sales rose 16.3 percent, to $1.24 billion from $1.06 billion in the year-earlier period. For its fiscal year, ended Jan. 23, the Troy, Mich.-based retailer said sales increased 12 percent, to $20.82 billion from $18.60 billion last year.

``Strong consumer demand carried over from December into January,`` K mart Chairman Bernard M. Fauber said. ``That, along with generally favorable winter weather conditions, allowed for a good clean-up of seasonal

Third-ranked J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said its store and catalogue sales for the four weeks ended Saturday totaled $712 million, a 7.4 percent increase from $663 million in the year-earlier period. For the 52-week period, Penney said its sales rose 12.1 percent, to $12.37 billion from $11.03 billion a year earlier.

Penney Chairman William R. Howell said promotional and markdown activity had been heavier than normal throughout January to support traditional sales events and to reduce inventories. Strong sales were reported in apparel, particularly in family outerwear, and leisure areas such as video cassette recorders, exercise equipment, photography and luggage.

Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc., the fifth-largest retailer and the largest department- and specialty-store operation, reported sales for the four weeks ended Saturday rose 4.7 percent, to $558.6 million from $533.6 million a year earlier. For the fiscal year-to-date, sales increased 10.7 percent, to $9.54 billion from $8.62 billion, excluding sales of the discontinued Bullocks Northern California division.

Sixth-ranked Montgomery Ward & Co. Inc., a Chicago-based subsidiary of Mobil Corp., said its January sales dropped 3.1 percent, to $366.1 million from $377.9 million a year earlier. For the 52 weeks, however, sales increased 7.1 percent, to $6.49 billion from $6.06 billion.

Wards said the strongest sales gains were made in Baltimore, Kansas City and Detroit.

Dayton-Hudson Corp., the country`s seventh-largest retailer, said sales for the four weeks ended Saturday increased 12.7 percent, to $435.95 million from $386.78 million. For the fiscal year to date, the Minneapolis-based department- and specialty-store retailer said sales increased 15.5 percent, to $7.59 million from $6.57 million a year earlier.

Household Merchandising Inc., the retailing unit of Prospect Heights-based Household International, said its January sales rose 2 percent, to $363.61 million from $355.71 last year, adjusting for the Dec. 1 sale of its home-furnishings stores. For the 52 weeks ended Saturday, sales also rose 2 percent, to $5.4 billion from $5.31 billion in the previous year.